cereal offender

There are few times, I think, that more effectively illustrate Jacob's and my differences than mornings - ok, maybe desserts, but we can talk about that later.


For the most part (daylight-savings Mondays excepted), I really enjoy the morning. I like to see the sun coming up over the trees in the back yard and watch the neighborhood waking up. I like to watch a little news, check my email, get a few things done. I have my hot cafe au lait and that's all the breakfast I need. I'm ready to go, world. Look out. Pre-marriage, in fact, I used to be up and at 'em at about 5 a.m., walking the dog and doing laundry, then I'd hit the office by 7:30 or so.


Jacob, on the other hand, wakes up a little later than I, rumply and groggy and wanting nothing more in this world than a just a few moments to be rumply and eat his breakfast. Unlike me, Jacob likes his cereal first thing, with cold milk and nearly-cold coffee (ok, not nearly-cold, but barely-warm anyway). This is not his time to chat or embrace the day or do anything other than wake up. You see, this time is not actually real-life time for Jacob, this is more like transition time. Transition to the world. It can be deceiving because it looks like actually-awake time, but it isn't. It. Is. Not.


It took me a little while to learn this, folks, and it made for some not-so pretty mornings. Mornings where my, um, enthusiasm for the morning (and life! and plans! and let's talk about everything right now! what did you dream about last night? did you sleep well?) left him a little overwhelmed as he tried to just wake up. Usually this did not end up starting the day well - for either of us.


Thankfully, we've both gotten better about how we handle the mornings...and a few other things in the three-and-a-half years we've been married. Growth!


It's the little things, right?

appreciation

There is something undeniably intoxicating about the scents on a spring breeze; their composition a little tell of what is to come. This early morning, as I ducked out into our backyard with the pup, I stopped for a moment to breathe it in. Clean like new grass, sweet like early flowers, cool and tinged with rain. No season more than spring does the wind carry life and promise, and I think more than anything that's what I love about the season. I'll admit, I really love the freewheeling warmth of summer, but there's so much about spring I mourn when we [sometimes] skip over it in our hasty and odd Kentucky weather patterns or when I, in my own haste, wish it away as I look toward the next thing. 

Today, there will be rain and wind and spring. And today I will enjoy every minute of it and not wish for the next thing (I especially will not daydream about Keeneland - yet). And I will be thankful for everything I have and can do today. I will take a moment to appreciate how perfectly rumpled Jacob is when he wakes up. I will be excited about sharing ideas with intelligent and capable friends. And I will spend the whole entire afternoon playing in the kitchen and cooking with my sisters in law (I love being married to my husband, but I also love that marriage gave me my first sisters!) as we prepare to celebrate a birthday in the family this evening (Happy Day, Marge!).

I am going to enjoy this day. And be thankful for the ones that came before.

rainy day fail

We've been having the most spring-like weather in Kentucky today - tempestuous rain and fast-moving skies and warm air. I love it so much. Rain was something I missed acutely during our life in the Middle East and I'm always so appreciative when we have a rainy day and I can grab an afternoon coffee and curl up for some productive writing. Rainy days are writing days to me.

perfect timing

All day today I've been working away, with the sounds of distant thunder and soft rain and cars passing by on wet roads. So when Jacob came back from some errands today, roses in hand, it just made the day that much better.


What did not make the day that much better was that, when I greeted him at the door, I noticed I had left my sunroof open yesterday. My sweet little car was positively drenched. And, most of my friends know I don't keep a very tidy car, so that meant there were lots of things inside to get drenched too. In addition to seats, floor mats and CDs we had to towel off or toss out receipts, my yoga mat, lots of loose change in brimming-over cupholders and one book. Boo. I was about ready to cry. What a fail. 


At least I had help. And roses. Thanks, babe. How did you know? 

growth spurts & cracks

Not a couple of days ago, I was really going on about our sweet old house and all its broken pieces. I love our home, and I'll probably always be a sucker for old houses, old cars, old furniture. Stuff with 'character'. Stuff that is...delicate sometimes. Stuff that, well, breaks.

About 11:00 yesterday morning, I walked into our bathroom and heard a barely-audible crackle, felt a light dust and instinctively backed out, slowly, knowing the time had come. The time for the plaster.

Jacob mentioned to me a few weeks ago that we should probably fix the ceiling - a small crack in the plaster had recently experienced something of a growth spurt. Of course, we never did.

I pulled the door shut and was still staring at it when I heard a heavy crash.

When I peeked in, a huge chunk of antique horse hair plaster (yes, this is the Bluegrass), weighing at least 30 pounds had re-deposited itself onto the floor, the towels, the toilet and the sink. With nothing but some wood slating remaining between us and the attic, the situation in our little powder room looked pretty dire.

Thankfully, I happen to have a very handy husband with very handy friends and we hope to have it all sewn up (plastered up?) this week sometime so we can shower again. I am also thankful that, though I do have a quite prescient husband who suggests we address the growing cracks, he's sweet enough not to say 'I told you so.'

Maybe Tuesday will go a little smoother.

engaging

Just this week two, yes two, of my friends have announced engagements. Not to mention the one who ties her sweet knot in just a couple of weeks. I positively love weddings - and marriages, for that matter. What a wonderful blessing! I cannot wait to grab a mimosa and dish over these gorgeous girls and their plans, their dresses, their days and their sweethearts, because one thing I know is worth it is stopping to enjoy every single moment of the engagement, the wedding and, yes, even the planning. 

the work of our sweet and wonderfully talented wedding 

photographer, Michelle Young at Endearing Studios

These are, in my humble opinion, the best times of engagement: the very beginning when it's all brunches and planning and dreaming and giggling, and the very end when the anticipation is so delicious and the future so unrevealed but so promising. 


All this talk just reminds me of our engagement and wedding. I'm so truly lucky to have those memories with such wonderful friends and such a wonderful man - and happy for an excuse to reminisce.

delightful details

This time last year was a pretty hectic time for our small family of two. Having recently moved back to Jacob's hometown, and the place we met, we were living in a small apartment that had to accommodate two adults, two home offices, one ornery dog and a seemingly never-ending parade of various employees. The weather was prohibitive to most activities outside the walls of our little place, so cabin fever (along with not-yet-unpacked fever, wish-we-were-moved-into-our-house fever, starting-small-businesses fever, tight-on-cash fever) dogged us. 

maybe snow isn't so bad after all (lexington 2011)

This was not the first time we'd encountered those particular challenges of day-to-day life intimately shared with another human being - let's don't minimize it here, they are the challenges that make you want to scream and pound your head on a wall - but the impact of small gestures can so lighten the every day burdens and put those times into perspective. 

south carolina shores, we miss you (folly beach, 2010)

I've become quite enamored of the small things - in their giving and receiving. They say the devil is in the details, but I think love is in the details - it's simply a matter of which details you choose.